S.I. No. 504/2006 - Safety, Health And Welfare At Work (Construction) Regulations 2006

• (4) A contractor responsible for a construction site on which persons are at work in a process in which a dangerous substance is used shall for that site -

• (a) provide an adequate number of nail brushes, and

• (b) for the purposes of paragraph (2)(a) or (3), as may be appropriate provide one trough, basin, or washbasin, as may be appropriate, for every 5 persons at work.

• (5) A contractor responsible for a construction site shall ensure for that site that -

• (a) the washing facilities provided are conveniently accessible from the accommodation for taking meals and shall be adequately lighted properly ventilated and kept in a clean and orderly condition,

• (b) separate washbasins, or separate use of washbasins for men and women are provided, when so required for reasons of propriety,

• (c) suitable showers in sufficient numbers are provided for persons at work if required by the nature of the work or for health reasons,

• (d) provision is made for separate shower rooms or separate use of shower rooms for men and women,

• (e) the shower rooms are sufficiently large to permit each person to wash without hindrance in conditions of an appropriate standard of hygiene,

• (f) the showers are equipped with hot and cold running water, and

• (g) where the rooms housing the showers or washbasins are separate from the changing rooms, there is easy communication between them.

Sanitary conveniences.

101.

• (a) that subject to subparagraph (d), at least one suitable sanitary convenience is provided, not being a convenience suitable only as an urinal, for every 20 persons at work on the site,

• (b) that every sanitary convenience required under these Regulations -

• (i) if practicable, discharges into a main sewer,

• (ii) is sufficiently ventilated and does not communicate with any workroom or messroom except through the open air or through an intervening ventilated space,

• (iii) is under cover and so partitioned off as to secure privacy,

• (iv) other than a convenience suitable only as an urinal, has a proper door and fastening,

• (v) is conveniently accessible to persons at work at all times while they are at the site and, where practicable, is convenient to the washing facilities, and

• (vi) is maintained in a clean and hygienic condition,

• (c) that provision is made for separate sanitary conveniences or separate use of sanitary conveniences for men and women, and

• (d) where there are more than 100 persons at work on the site and sufficient urinal accommodation is provided, that there is at least one suitable sanitary convenience as described in subparagraph (a) -

• (i) for every 25 persons at work on the site, up to and including the first 100, and

• (ii) for every 35 persons at work on the site after the first 100.

• (2) In calculating the number of conveniences required -

• (a) by paragraph(1)(a), any number of persons -

• (i) less than 20 shall be reckoned as 20, and

• (ii) any number not a multiple of 20 shall be reckoned as being the nearest lower number which is a multiple of 20, and

• (b) by paragraph(1)(d), any number of persons -

• (i) less than 25 or 35, as may be appropriate, shall be reckoned as 25 or 35, and

• (ii) any number not a multiple of 25 or 35, as may be appropriate shall be reckoned as being the nearest lower number which is a multiple of 25 or 35.

Accommodation areas.

102.

• (a) have sufficient sanitary equipment, a rest room and a leisure room,

• (b) are equipped with beds, cupboards, tables and seats with backs, taking account of the number of persons at work, and

• (c) are allocated taking account, where appropriate, of the presence of persons of both sexes.

Safe access to places where facilities are provided.

103.

• (a) safe means of access and egress are provided and maintained to and from every place at which any of the facilities referred to in this Part are situated, and

• (b) every such place is made safe and kept safe for persons using the facilities.

Pregnant women and nursing mothers.

104.

Persons with disabilities.

105.

Schedule 1 Non-exhaustive List of Work Involving Particular Risks to the Safety, Health and Welfare of Persons at Work

• (a) falling from a height,

• (b) burial under earthfalls, or

• (c) engulfment in swampland,

where the risk is particularly aggravated by the nature of the work or processes used or by the environment at the place of work or construction site.

Schedule 2 Non-Exhaustive List of Matters to be Considered in Particular as regards the Application of the General Principles of Prevention to Construction Work under these Regulations

Schedule 3 Safety Awareness Scheme

The requirements under these Regulations for the issue of a valid safety awareness registration card are successful completion of any one of the following:

• (a) the FÁS Safe Pass training programme;

• (b) an equivalent safety awareness scheme approved by FÁS;

• (c) an equivalent safety awareness scheme in another Member State of the European Communities approved by FÁS.

• (a) the FÁS Safe Pass registration card;

• (b) a registration card, with photographic identification, issued by such body as may be prescribed by the Minister, for the purpose of the issuing of safety awareness cards;

• (c) a registration card issued in association with a scheme referred to in paragraph 1(c).

Schedule 4 Construction Skills Certification Scheme

• (a) Scaffolding - basic;

• (b) Scaffolding - advanced;

• (c) Mobile tower scaffold - where the employee has not been trained in the task referred to at subparagraphs (a) or (b);

• (d) Tower crane operation;

• (e) Self erecting tower crane operation - where the employee has not been trained in the task referred to at subparagraph (d);

• (f) Slinging/signalling;

• (g) Telescopic handler operation;

• (h) Tractor/dozer operation;

• (i) Mobile crane operation;

• (j) Crawler crane operation;

• (k) Articulated dumper operation;

• (l) Site dumper operation;

• (m) 180° excavator operation;

• (n) Mini-digger operation - where the employee has not been trained in the task referred to at subparagraph (m);

• (o) 360° excavator operation;

• (p) Roof and wall cladding/sheeting;

• (q) Built-up roof felting;

• (r) Signing, lighting and guarding on roads;

• (s) Locating under-ground services;

• (t) Shotfiring;

• (u) such other construction related tasks as may be prescribed by the Minister.

• (2) Where it is necessary to gain experience prior to undertaking a programme related to the tasks listed at paragraph (1) it is permissible for a person to undertake those tasks during the training period required by the programme if -

• (a) the person concerned is at all times under the close personal supervision of a person who is in possession of a valid construction skills registration card relevant to the task concerned, and

• (b) the person concerned is in possession of an appropriate identification identifying the person as a trainee in the relevant skills and an associated documented log-book recording experience gained in the skill in which the person is undergoing training.

• (a) the relevant FETAC award under the Construction Skills Certification Scheme,

• (b) an equivalent FETAC award, or

• (c) an equivalent award approved by a body in another Member State of the European Communities recognised by FÁS as equivalent to the FETAC award under the Construction Skills Certification Scheme.

• (2) “Scaffolding - advanced” listed in paragraph 1(1)(b) includes any or all of the following:

• (a) construction of special scaffolds as may be specified in a relevant code of practice;

• (b) construction of scaffolds that may require design or calculation including any such scaffold as may be specified in a relevant code of practice;

• (c) such other tasks as may be prescribed by the Minister.

Schedule 5 Procedure for Selection of Site Safety Representatives

The selection of a site safety representative shall proceed as follows:

Schedule 6 List of Vehicles Requiring Auxiliary Devices and Visual Aids.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation)

The purpose of these Regulations is to prescribe the main requirements for the protection of the safety, health and welfare of persons working on construction sites and to give further effect to Council Directive 92/57/EEC³ on the minimum safety and health requirements at temporary or mobile construction sites.

These Regulations are designed to clarify and strengthen the general duties of all parties as regards securing occupational safety, health and welfare in construction work, including those of Clients Project Supervisors, Designers, Contractors and Employees.

These Regulations apply to all construction projects including the alteration, decoration, maintenance and repair of buildings and the installation, maintenance and removal of mechanical and other systems fixed within or to structures. They place obligations on clients and designers to ensure that safety and health is taken into account before any construction work begins. Contractors must ensure that the work on site is properly co-ordinated and carried out in a safe manner.

A Regulatory Impact Analysis has been undertaken for these Regulations and is available from the website of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (www.entemp.ie).

These Regulations replace and revoke the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction Regulations 2001 ( S.I. No. 481 of 2001 ), and the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction)(Amendment) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 277 of 2003 ) except for Regulations 4 and 6 of the 2001 Regulations as they apply to project supervisors appointed prior to the commencement of these Regulations and to Regulations 80 to 123 - lifting appliances and lifting equipment.

Footnotes